How I made my Mazda5 alittle bit quieter

Dynamated >50%, CCF (closed cell foam) and MLV ( mass load vinyl, 1#/ sq ft) the whole interior except roof... van quieter, can hear the wind noise as noted by other forum members.

Added at least 125 lbs to the weight of the van, more thud to the panels and roof. Poorer gas mileage!!!

Was it worth 3.5 weeks of not having the van to drive....maybe...
I hear different muted sounds...road noise is lower dependent on road conditions, more solid feel, not the Luxury quiet feel of a Lexus.Need to drive the van more after install because the middle seats and console was not installed at this evaluation.

About one third into the install, I've read, most of the noise of the MZ5 can attenuated by quiet tires and coating and dampening the front wheel wells inside and out, plastic fender liners, firewall and foot wells.

My 2009 MZ5 GT has:
'10 MS3 18" Rims,
225/45-18 Nitto Motivo Tires,
MS3 Front Calipers w/ Centric High Carbon Front and Premium Rear Rotors.
Koni FSD Shocks,
MS3 Rear Sway Bar and new updated F/R Stock Sway Bar Bushings,Moog Links, SPC rear camber arms, stock MZ5 springs.
Auto exe rear exhaust.
Curt Hitch...ZOOM-ZOOM!

I plan to install a 4 channel amp (400 Watt) for my JL Audio speakers and thinking of installing a MS6 or MS3 Spare Tire Bose Bass unit, Any sugguestions?

I now intimately know my MZ5 inside and out, more than I care acknowledge....brother in-law said i should have bought a new quiet car after seeing the whole interior removed for this install.

Question: How do I Bold Face the Title Bar?

I don't think an ultra high performace tire will benefit your cause. Something in the Touring and Grand Touring is more appropriare but you lose the performace aspect. And check cheap tires will not perform as well as a recognized and tried/true brand (not knocking Nitto, I like some of their tires but they are not Michelin).

The main problem is the underlying chassis was built for an economy car setup. Your efforts will improve it but some aspects you cannot touch. The grade of the unibody chassis is pretty thin and the interior components (plastics, carpeting to asborb noise) are thin - there's a reason why this car is so cheap. The bigger the car the heavier it gets, the stiffer the chassis needs to be. Price goes up, packing goes up, everything domino's. Also partly why the chassis of an economy car cannot support a class 3 or higher hitch - foundation is just not there at that price.

The wind noise part is HUGE. The Mz5 has pretty big green house (for a wagon). If you open a window and measure how thick the glass is and compare it to a Lexsus and you instantly understand everything has a price. I had a '13 SRX for a year and the caddies glass is 2.5x thick (includes uv and filter in glass). Thats two and a half Mazd5 windows stuck together! A thick quality tint helps a little, similar to the sound deadening effort you are undertaking, piling on more "stuff" to attenuate noise. Also, this car has piss poor door seals all around.

If I had time, I would do some targeted areas. Few more years till I don't need sliding doors...

Always enjoy your insight on different subjects... so much to learn!

Thanks!

Silentnoise713 said:

I don't think an ultra high performace tire will benefit your cause. Something in the Touring and Grand Touring is more appropriare but you lose the performace aspect. And check cheap tires will not perform as well as a recognized and tried/true brand (not knocking Nitto, I like some of their tires but they are not Michelin).

The main problem is the underlying chassis was built for an economy car setup. Your efforts will improve it but some aspects you cannot touch. The grade of the unibody chassis is pretty thin and the interior components (plastics, carpeting to asborb noise) are thin - there's a reason why this car is so cheap. The bigger the car the heavier it gets, the stiffer the chassis needs to be. Price goes up, packing goes up, everything domino's. Also partly why the chassis of an economy car cannot support a class 3 or higher hitch - foundation is just not there at that price.

The wind noise part is HUGE. The Mz5 has pretty big green house (for a wagon). If you open a window and measure how thick the glass is and compare it to a Lexsus and you instantly understand everything has a price. I had a '13 SRX for a year and the caddies glass is 2.5x thick (includes uv and filter in glass). Thats two and a half Mazd5 windows stuck together! A thick quality tint helps a little, similar to the sound deadening effort you are undertaking, piling on more "stuff" to attenuate noise. Also, this car has piss poor door seals all around.

If I had time, I would do some targeted areas. Few more years till I don't need sliding doors...

Click to expand...

Do you have any pictures of your installation?

I'm curious why you skipped the roof? If you go through the trouble of removing your interior, then the roof liner would not be hard, and treating the roof would help mitigate noise - some vehicles more than others.

I agree that the light-weight materials used for the Mz5 construction would be hard to combat when it comes to road noise, but the heavy '09 Honda Odyssey we drive seems louder at times. Replacement tires helped, but the big mini-van should be whisper quiet IMHO.

Sorry, I don't know how to attach pictures to this forum. I thought click,copy and paste, no...any suggestions? Need a step by step process...Then I can post some detailed Pics.

I Dynamatted 25% of the roof area but didn't MLV it. Too much weight and the benefit would be minor according to a post from another member. I agree with his conclusion that the roof doesn't produce that much noise. The headliner does have some denim pads to quiet it down. After the install, the Dynamat quieted the roof, even in the rain, it was enough for my taste.

Drove the van around today: Everything below the floor seemed muffled and isolated, less road noise but I could hear/feel the muffled harsh,crashing, cheap MZ3 suspension parts articulating through my 225/45/18 Ultra High All Season Nitto Motivo tires ...When the Asphalt and Concrete pavement is smooth, the MZ5 is Quiet otherwise the noise increases accordingly.

Next day, I sat in the 2nd row seats. quieter, road noise was very well dampen and isolated. The noise from the Rear Cargo was loud and boomy though. The rear hatch seal is poor and let in alot of outside noise along with the exhaust note from the Autoexe exhaust. As noted by Silent noise, the glass is thin and the weatherseal is minimal in mitigating the noise levels.I was thinking with the 3rd row seats down and the cargo cover closed it would be quieter... NOT!

Would I do this again, probably not...but it help me realize I'm too old to do this s***t! Use to enjoy the challenge but it's getting long in tooth, like forever! 3.5 weeks/ 4-6 hours/ day + maybe 3-4 days off. This is what Retirement brings... too much free time to enjoy yourself!

note to torquelover...brother inlaw also has a honda odessey ... same noise.. thinks my MS5 is louder!

flcruising said:

Do you have any pictures of your installation?


I agree that the light-weight materials used for the Mz5 construction would be hard to combat when it comes to road noise, but the heavy '09 Honda Odyssey we drive seems louder at times. Replacement tires helped, but the big mini-van should be whisper quiet IMHO.

Click to expand...

We had a new '05 Oddy Touring (Michelin PAX equipped) that was louder on the highway than our MZ5. Mostly tire noise, not wind or engine noise. This was eventually replaced with a used '03 Town and Country which was very quiet on the highway.

I find our MZ5 with different tires, one evening of work, and very little money spent is acceptably quiet now. Any quieter and the wind noise would really irk me.